Pressure means for calender rolls



Feb- 3 1959 A. c. FLlN-r ETAL PRESSURE MEANS FOR CALENDER ROLLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001;. l2, 1955 50 ALDEN C. Hum-,JACK E. Lwmeen'on, 5% MALCOLM D. HAven d form l Loue.

INVENTORS ATTORNEYS Llo Feb. 3, 1959 A, C, FLlNT ETAL PRESSURE MEANS FOR CALENDER ROLLS 2 Sheets-Sheekl 2 Filed 001;. 12, 1955 ALBEN CFLINT, JACK E. Lwmcysom, MALCOLM U. HAVEN amil; mi 1?. Lorie.

INVENTORS ATTORNEYS United States Fatent PRESSURE MEANS FOR CALENDER ROLLS Carolina, and fifty percent to Livingston & Haven, Inc.,

Charleston, S. C., a corporation of South Carolina Application October 12, 1955, Serial No. 540,044

3 Claims. (Cl. 19-164) This invention relates to machinery for producing laps formed of textile fibres from such as picker machines and the like and, more especially, to improved apparatus for applying pressure to the calender rolls of such machines.

Most picker machines currently in use are provided with weighted calender rolls which compress textile fibres to form a lap which may not exceed fifty pounds in weight. The capacity of such machines is so limited due to the fact that no means have been devised heretofore whereby the amount of pressure on the calender rolls could be increased sufficiently to further compress the lap without fracturing or breaking the rolls.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide yieldable tiuid pressure control means for maintaining predetermined pressure upon a series of calender rolls which facilitates increasing the amount of pressure applied to the calender rolls to a substantially greater extent than has heretofore been practicable so that a ninetytwo pound lap, for example, may be formed on a machine which currently has a capacity for accommodating a fifty pound lap. The use of fluid pressure or compressed air for maintaining pressure upon the series of calender rolls permits the rolls to yield upo-n a thickenedv portion in the lap passing therebetween and thereby obviates the possibility of the rolls becoming fractured or broken. The increased density of a lap formed by the increased pressure upon the calender rolls not only facilitates the production of a relatively larger diameter or greater weight lap but also eliminates the tendency of the lap to split in subsequent operations, particularly during the carding of synthetic fibres, since the fibres are more tightly interlocked due to the increased pressure applied thereto.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a picker machine or the like having a section of calender rolls with lever means pivoted to fixed parts vof the machine adjacent the calender rolls at each end thereof and wherein each of the levers is caused to bear against vertically movable bearings supporting the uppermost of the rolls by means of a piston rod depending from a piston disposed within a cylinder mounted above each corresponding lever. Means are provided for adjustably controlling the ow of compressed air or other tiuid pressure to the upper ends of the cylinders to apply downward pressure to the piston rods, the levers and the series of calender rolls.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description procceds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a fragmentary top plan view of the discharge or front end of a picker machine showing the improved means for applying pressure to the calender rolls mounted thereon;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation looking at the left-hand side of Figure 1;

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Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 2 but looking at the opposite side of the machinel from that shown in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a somewhat schematic view showing the calender rolls and associated rams for applying pressure to the calender rolls and also showing, schematically, a circuit for controlling the flow of fluid pressure to the cylinders or rams.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numerals 10 and 11 indicate opposite side frame members of a lap-forming machine such as a picker machine and each side frame member 10, 11 has a pair of Vspaced upwardly projecting portions 12, 13 between which a corresponding series of vertically spaced bearings 14 are'mounted for vertical movement. A series of calender rolls is journaled in the bearings 14 and it will be observed in Figure 5 that the calender rolls include a top calender-roll 21, a pair of intermediate calender rolls 22, 23 and a bottom calender roll 24. l

The upper portion of the machine frame is in the form of a housing, indicated at 25, in which the usualI condensing screens are disposed and from which a relatively thick web of textile fibres L, commonly known as a lap, passes through the calender rolls 21-24 and onto conventional driven take-up rolls 27 (Figure 4). The take-up rolls 27 wind the lap L around with a lap pin or arbor 30 which is pressed toward the take-up rolls 27 by conventional or other means and forms the lap L into a lap roll R. In this instance, the means illustrated for maintaining downward pressure on the lap pin or arbor 30 is of a type such as is disclosed in the pending application of John R. Long, Serial Number 327,796, filed December 24, 1952, and entitled,y Head Block for Lapping Machine, and now. abandoned, the subject matter of said application being carried forward in continuation application Serial No. 723,080, filed March 19, 1958 and entitled Apparatus for Controlling4 the Thickness of Textile Laps.

The pressure applying means for each end of the arbor 30 includes a head block 32 fixed on the lower end of a piston rod 33 extending from a cylinder 34 suitably supported on the corresponding side frame member. Means, not shown in the present drawings, but being clearly illustrated in said last-named pending application, are provided for alternately admitting fluidpressure `to the upper and lower ends of the cylinders 34.

The calender rolls 21--24 and take-up rolls 27 areL driven in a conventional manner wherein, during operation of the machine, a gear 40 is engaged by a gear 41 fixed on a drive shaft 42 journaled in an operating or control lever 43. Lever 43 is pivoted at,44 to the side frame member 11 or a suitable bracket boltedy thereto. The drive shaft 42 carries a pullley 46 (Figure 2) on which a constantly driven belt 47 is mounted for imparting rotation to the drive shaft 42. The free end of the control or operating lever 43 loosely penetrates a bracket 50 carried by the side frame member 11 and the lever 43 is adapted to be raised and supported in raised position upon a lug, not shown, formed upon so-called musket lever 51 fulcrumed at 52 on the bracket 50. Since the musket lever 51 is of a type such as is clearly disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 518,007 issued to j, A. H.- Morton on April l0, 1894, a detailed illustrationl and description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

The lower arm of the lever 51 is weighted at 53 so that .v

the upper arm thereof may be normally forced inward and the outer or front end of the lever 43'may be maintained i1: raised position. The weighted end 53 of lever 51 is adapted to beengaged by a knock-off lever 55 fixed jon one end of a shaft 56 journaled inthe side frame members 10, 11. The other end of shaft 56 (Figure 2) has an auxiliary knock-off lever 57 ixed thereon, which is relatively short as compared to the knock-off lever 55, and each of the levers 55, 57 hasan adjustable abutmentor set screw tlthereon which is adapted to be engaged vby one arm of a corresponding substantially' C-shaped bell crank 61. The bell cranks 61Iare suitably journaled as at 62, on the respective side frame'members 10,11. The other arm of earch bell crank 61 is loosely penetrated by a connecting rodor linkl 63and the lower end of each link 63'has a stop shown in the form of a pair of lock nuts 64 thereon, the uppermost of which is adapted to engage the lower surface of the relatively short arm of the corresponding C-shaped bell crank 6I.

It will be noted that, when the control lever 43 is in raised position, thegear 41 engages and transmits rota# tion to the gear 4i), this gear 40 being fixed on the shaft` ofthe lower intermediatecalender roll 23. The calender roll 23 also has a gear 65 iixed on the shaft thereof which meshes with gears 66 and 67 fixed on the shafts of the bottom calender roll 24 and the upper intermediate' calender roll 22. The gear 67 meshes with a gear 70 fixed on the shaft of the top calender roll 21. The parts heretofore described are generally conventional and it is with such or similar parts that the present invention is adapted to be associated.

In order to apply uniform but yieldzble downward pressure to the upper calender roll 21 which is, in turn, transmitted to the calender rolls therebelow, the rearward up- 1 Wardly projecting portion 12 on each of the side framel members 1t), 11 is bifurcated and has the rear end of a pressure applying lever 75 pivotally mounted thereon, as at 76. Each lever 75 preferably has a relatively small projection 77 on a lower medial portion thereof for engaging the uppermost of the corresponding bearing blocks and the free forward end portion of each lever 75 is loosely penetrated by the upper portion ofthe corresponding link`63. The upper end of each link 63 has an abutment or nut 80 thereon for engagingthe upper surface of the corresponding lever 75.

An inverted substantially U-shaped yoke member 81, xed on the lower end of a pistonrod S2, bears against the upper surface of each lever 75 forwardly of the corresponding projection 77 and each piston rod 82 loosely or slidably penetrates the closed lower end of a hydraulic or air cylinder 83. Each air cylinder 83 is xed on a substantially inverted L-shaped bracket S4 and the upper portion of each bracket 84 is also loosely penetrated by the corresponding piston rod S2. It will be observed in Figure 3 that each bracket 34 is also of substantially in- 'I verted U-shape in cross-section and the brackets 84 are suitably secured to the rear upwardly projecting portions 12 of the side frame members 10, 1I.

The upper end of each piston rod 82 is connected to a piston 86 mounted for vertical sliding movementin the corresponding cylinder 83. The closed upper ends of the cylinders 83 (Figure 5) are connected to a closed uid pressure system and are adapted to receive and discharge uid pressure, preferably compressed air, through corresponding ports S7. It will be observed in Figure that the fluid pressure system includes a conduit or pipe 90, Vone end of which is connected to the port 87 of the right-hand cylinder 83 and the pipe 90 is connected to a pipe T 91 which communicates with the port 87 of the left-hand cylinder 83 in Figure 5. A pipe or conduit 92 is connected to the other side of the pipe T 91 and extends to a suitable source of fluid pressure or compressed air 95 and the conduit or pipe 92 has a manually operable valve shut-off 96, a sediment trap 97 and a manually adjustable regulator valve i) interposed therein. It will benoted that the regulator valve 100 is disposed between the cylinders 83 and the valve 96 and trap 97. The valve 10'0 may be of conventional construction and of the type which will exhaust compressed air or fluid pressure from thecyliuders 83rwhen thepressure in the cylinders exceeds throughout the width of the lap L passes between adjacent rolls 21--24, the exhaust of compressed air or fluid pressure from the cylinders 83 permits the levers 75 to yield thereby avoiding fracture or breakage of any of the calender rolls 21-24. Of course, in the event of an excessively thickened portion-,or hardy foreign substance passing between the calender rolls, it is apparent that the levers 75 will beraised to such an extent as to cause the long arms on the bell cranks 61 to engage the abutments 6i? and impart movement to the shaft 56 through the intervening levers 55, 5,7. Ofcourse, as the lever moves upwardly at its forward end,` it is apparent that this will release the controly lever 43 from the musket lever 51 and y permit the lever 43 to move, to the inoperative position shown in Figure 4, to thereby stop the machine.

As disclosed in said Patent No. 518,007, in the event that a hard foreign substance is encountered in the libres or that a bunch or lap occurs at only one end of the calender rolls, in whichthe end only at .which the occurrence takes place will be raised while the opposite end will be down in normal position, it is apparent that only one of the Vbell cranks 6l `would be rotated, but this will stillv cause'the machine to Ystop since both of the levers 55, 57 are connected tothe same shaft 56.

It is thus seen that I have provided a novel and eicient .means for maintaining uniform yieltiable pressure upon the calender `rolls of a lap forming machine, which ap paratus may be economically maintained and constructed and wherein the amount of pressureapplied to the calen-V der rolls may be .easily varied thereby-greatly increasing the capacity' of conventional lap forming machines so that larger lap rolls than have heretofore been attainable may be formed and subsequently be processed on a carding machine, for example, to considerably reduce the cost of the lap fo-rming operation and the subsequent processing of lap rolls thus fo-rmed.

In the drawings and specification there has been iset forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim: f

1. In a lap-forming machine having a frame, a vertical series of substantially horizontallydisposed calender rolls between which fibers forming the lap are passed, a bearing block for each end of eachcalender roll, the bearing blocks for the lowermost calender roll being supported against downward movement relative'to the frame and the remaining bearing blocks being mounted in said frame for vertical movement with their respective calender rolls relative to the lowermost calender roll and its bearing blocks; means for applying and maintaining a predetermined amount of pressure equally on each of the bearing blocks for the uppermost of said calender rolls to subpredetermined amount of pressure, a conduit extending.

from the Huid pressure source and through which pressure is transmitted to the calender rolls, valve means in the conduit for regulating the amount of pressure delivered from the fluid pressure. source to the calender rolls and for relieving pressure in excess of said predetermined amount of pressure from the calender rolls, vwhereby upon thick places in the fibers passing between the calender rolls subjecting the calender rolls and their bearing blocks to pressure in excess of said -predetermined amount of pressure, said valve means will relieve the excess pressure on the lcalender rolls occasioned by the presence of a thick place therebetween and will permit restoration of said predetermined amount of pressure to the calender rolls after the thick place passes beyond the calender rolls to thereby maintain the calender rolls `under constant uniform pressure.

2. In a lap-forming machine having a frame, a vertical series of substantially horizontally disposed calender rolls between which bers forming the lap are passed, a bearing block for each end of each calender roll and mounted for vertical movement in said frame, a leverpivotally mounted on said frame above the uppermost block inveach set of blocks and each lever being engageable at a point between its ends with it-s corresponding uppermost bearing block; a uid pressure operated device associated with each lever, each device including piston and cylinder elements, one of which elements is stationary and the other of which is attached adjacent the free end of said lever, a fluid pressure system interconnecting the cylinder elements for applying and maintaining a predetermined amount of pressure equally lon each of said levers and including a fluid pressure' source wherein uid is maintained under pressure at least equal to said predeterminedA amount of pressure, a fluid conduit extending between said fluid pressure source and said cylinders, a combined pressure regulator and pressure relief valve interposed in said conduit, said valve being adjustable to admit said predetermined amount of pressure from the fluid pressure source to the cylinders and to relieve pressure in excess of said predetermined amount of pressure from the cylinder-s, whereby upon thick places in the bers passing between the calender rolls and subjecting the calender rolls and bearing blocks to pressure in excess of said predetermined amount of pressure, the valve will relieve the excess pressureexerted on the calender rolls by the thick places in the bers and admit suflicient pressure from the uid pressure source to restore the predetermined amount of pressure to the cylinders and to the calender rolls after passage of the thick places in the fibers from between said rolls to thereby maintain the calender rolls under constant uniform pressure.

3. A structure according to claim 2 wherein said machine is provided with a knock-olf mechanism operatively connected to each of said levers and being so arranged t-hat excessive upward movement of either lever etected 4by an abnormally thick place in the fibers .passing between the calender rolls will actuate said knock-olf mechanism to stop the machine.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 518,007 Morton Apr. 10, 1894 I692,570 Whitlock Feb. 4, 1902 1,587,784 Mahler June 8, 1926 2,027,283 McFadden Jan. 7, 1936 2,479,759 Merchant Aug. 23, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 506,719 Belgium Mar. 13, 1953 

